Thumbnail Designer

About this role

THE ROLE

We are hiring a Lead Thumbnail Designer to own the visual front door of every long-form video PlotPointe publishes on YouTube. This is a senior, leadership-level role for a designer who can sustain elite individual output while building and leading a team that scales with our publishing volume. PlotPointe ships around 48 long-form YouTube videos a month, and the bar for every one is a 9% click-through rate. You will design at that bar, run A/B tests as a default operating rhythm, read YouTube Studio data fluently, and within months hire and lead a thumbnail team built around your standards.

WHAT YOU'LL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR

- Driving a sustained 9%+ CTR across the long-form publishing slate of roughly 48 videos a month.

- Designing thumbnails personally at lead-level quality while building the systems that allow a team to match your bar.

- Recruiting, training, and managing a thumbnail team that grows alongside our channel portfolio.

- Setting visual standards across typography, facial expression direction, contrast logic, composition, and asset prep workflows.

- Running A/B testing as a default behavior. Designing the test, reading the result, and iterating fast.

- Turning impression, CTR, and average view duration data into design decisions.

- Collaborating with writers, editors, and channel leads to align thumbnails with story hooks and audience intent.

- Owning quality control across every thumbnail that ships under PlotPointe channels.

- Building a sourcing pipeline of strong designers you can grow the team with.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

- 4+ years designing thumbnails for storytelling channels at scale.

- Demonstrated personal track record of 8 to 10%+ CTR on channels delivering 1M+ views per video, supported by analytics you can speak to.

- Steady-state experience producing 20+ thumbnails per week.

- Fluency with YouTube Studio analytics, A/B testing methodology, and CTR benchmarking by niche.

- Experience leading or training designers, with the appetite to build a team further.

- Strong communication skills and confidence working across editorial, production, and channel leadership.

- Experience using AI tools

WHAT YOU BRING

CANDIDATES SHOULD BRING A PORTFOLIO OF HIGH-CTR WORK BACKED BY PERFORMANCE DATA, EXAMPLES OF DESIGN DECISIONS DEFENDED WITH ANALYTICS, AND THE OPERATIONAL MATURITY TO LEAD A TEAM WITHOUT LOSING THE INDIVIDUAL BAR. WE CARE ABOUT HOW YOU COMMUNICATE, HOW YOU GIVE FEEDBACK TO JUNIOR DESIGNERS, AND HOW YOU CARRY YOURSELF INSIDE A HIGH-VOLUME PUBLISHING SCHEDULE WHERE DECISIONS MOVE DAILY.

SKILLS

- YouTube thumbnail design

- A/B testing methodology

- YouTube Studio analytics

- Adobe Photoshop and Creative Suite

- Visual storytelling and hook design

- Team leadership and mentorship

- High-volume creative production

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